


Cold Bones (that's my love)

by swanqueenismagic



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-19 20:52:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16542011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swanqueenismagic/pseuds/swanqueenismagic
Summary: My take on Nyssa and Sara meeting, and Sara's time with The League of Assassins.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Arrow never gave us the details of Nyssa and Sara meeting, or Sara's training and time with The League. (I'm not bitter or anything) I think about their story all the time, and have a pretty clear idea of what I think happened, so I finally just decided that I should write it out. Heads up, and far as my current plans go, this isn't going to be super fluffy. This is very much me stretching my writing muscles, in preparation for another project. I haven't done any creative writing in a couple years so I'm definitely a little rusty. This fic is unedited.

As her consciousness returns, Sara tries to remember what happened, but the pounding in her head makes it difficult. 

Through the haze, everything starts to come back to her, She remembers the Amazo, and Oliver, and their plan that had gone so horribly wrong. Sara knows she doesn’t have to time to think about it, to grieve. She can’t afford to waste that precious time if she wants to live through this.

Sara begins to take stock of her surroundings. She’s still in the water, but she’s washed back up on the shore of this cursed island. Her mouth is so dry and her head feels like it’s splitting open. Lifting one of her hands, Sara winces as it makes contact with a cut on her forehead. She must have hit her head as she was sucked under the Amazo. Perfect. 

She knows that she needs to get off of this beach. Find some water and some shade. Something to eat if she’s lucky. She tenses her legs to pull them up, a first step to getting her feet under her. As she does so she cries out, suddenly aware of excruciating pain burning through her right leg. The pounding in her skull had seemed to drown out the pain of her other injuries, but she’s certainly aware of them now. With great effort, hissing at the pain, Sara manages to lift her head slightly. She glances down, and immediately feels like she’s going to pass out. 

Oh god. It’s so bad. It’s so bad, and if the red puddle under her leg is any indication, she’s lost a lot of blood. 

Sara lets her head drop back to the ground and takes deep ragged breaths, her teeth clenched. Forcing air in and out of lungs, trying to think of anything useful beyond panic. Tears prick at the corners of her eyes, and several slides down her temples and into her hair. 

She knows that staying on the beach is a death sentence. She knows that she needs to move, to do something, but she can’t seem to muster up the energy. Everything hurts, and she’s so tired. 

If she could just rest, she reasons with herself, she’ll get up once she wakes up. Sara can hear the voice in the back of her head, screaming that this is a mistake, that falling asleep is the last thing she should do, but she can’t bring herself to care. Can’t seem to bring herself to care about anything as the world fades away. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara fades in and out.

How long has she been lying on this beach? Hours? Days? 

It must be days because sometimes she wakes and the sun is high over head. Sometimes it’s low in the sky. Sometimes it isn’t there at all. 

The days bleed together, her short periods of consciousness not enough for her to gauge how much time is passing. 

Sara tries to keep her promise to herself. She really does. The first few times she wakes up she really does make an effort to get up, but the pain in her head makes lifting it an impossible task. 

Each attempt is more difficult. Sara knows she’s dehydrated. She’s pretty sure that the wound on her leg is infected, and she’s gone so far past the point of being hungry that she can’t feel anything in her stomach anymore. 

Eventually Sara realizes that she’s going to die. 

She’s going to die here. On this damn beach, on this fucking island, in such a useless way. 

As she feels the darkness descend upon her again, she thinks about her family. Something she hadn’t allowed herself to do up until this point. She knew the minute that she did, it would break her. It would be the end. 

She thinks about how she’s never going to get the chance to tell them she’s sorry. To atone for what she’s done, to make it right. 

She thinks of their faces, wishing that she’d gotten to say goodbye. 

She thinks of her family, and lets the darkness pull her under for the last time. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They’d made land over two hours ago, and still nothing. 

Nyssa had taken two others with her to search the Eastern side of the island, and sent another team of three to cover the Western side. Lian Yu wasn’t that big, they’d scoured almost every inch, yet they had found nothing. 

Her father had insisted though. He’d been incredibly vague about what they were actually searching for, but had said that it was important. Important enough for him to send his daughter as not much more than errand girl. R’as Al Ghul didn’t do anything without reason. So Nyssa went without complaint, and kept her doubts to herself. 

Now though, she was getting the feeling that she was going to return to Nanda Parbat empty handed. Going to be put in the position of explaining to her father that they had found nothing. She doubted that would be received well, but there was no alternative. If there was nothing here, then there was nothing here. 

She continued to move silently eyes scanning the ground, the trees, looking for anything. She couldn’t see her companions, but she could sense them moving through the trees around her, searching for….. something. Anything.

Nyssa came to the edge of the treeline, along a short stretch of beach, and halted. She scanned the open area, and was about to move on when she spotted a shape at the water's edge. Nyssa sensed Aisha slide into the space next to her. 

“It appears to be a body.”

“It does. Take Rakin and search the treeline along the beach, this could be bait in a trap.”

Aisha nods at her and peels away, fading back into the foliage. Nyssa turns her attention back to the body. From her position she can’t get a good look at it, so she waits. 

Several minutes later, Aisha appears in the treeline on the opposite side of the beach and signals all clear. Nyssa signals back to cover her from the treeline, and strides across the sand, unsheathing a dagger as she goes. 

As she approaches, Nyssa begins to take stock of what she can see. The body is a woman. A small woman, blonde hair caked with dirt, with several prominent injuries. Most notably a gash on her forehead, and another much larger gash on her calf that appears to be infected. 

Putting her dagger away, Nyssa kneels down next to her and reaches a hand out to feel for a pulse. It’s there, barely, but fluttering away faintly. Now that she’s closer she can see that the woman’s chest is rising and falling slowly. 

The woman begins stirring slightly, the touch of Nyssa hand on her neck having roused her back to some form of consciousness. She blinks slowly at Nyssa, with the brightest blue eyes, rimmed with red and almost glazed over. Eyes that Nyssa can tell aren’t really seeing her. 

The woman parts her chapped lips and makes a quiet pained noise. 

“What is you name? What is your purpose on Lian Yu?”

Nyssa knows even as she asks them that the questions are useless. The blonde is clearly too far gone to comprehend any of what she’s saying. 

The woman’s eyes fall closed again, it seems the effort to keep them open is beyond her. 

Without taking her eyes off her face, Nyssa signals the others over. 

“She’s still alive.” Aisha observes.

“Just barely so” 

“She doesn’t look like she’s going to last much longer. Shall I end her suffering before we move on?”

Nyssa considers her question. She knows it’s the obvious choice, the smart choice, and yet. 

Looking at the woman’s face, something holds her back. 

“No. We’re taking her back with us.”

Nyssa sees the skeptical look on Aisha’s face and continues.

“My father sent us here to find something. So far this is the only abnormal thing we’ve encountered, she may know something. If she can be healed enough to talk, I’ll question her. If not, I’ll end it for her myself.” 

Aisha nods, as Nyssa stands. Silently, Rakin steps over and gently scoops the woman up. She groans in pain, and then falls silent again. That pained noise at the jostling of her injured body clearly all she can muster. 

Nyssa turns and sets off back towards the boat, hoping that this woman does indeed know something. She shudders at the thought of returning to the Demon’s Head empty handed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara is aware of a gentle touch on her neck. She attempts to open her eyes, but they feel so heavy. Her head feels like someone had taken a baseball bat to her skull.

Finally managing to peel her eyes open, she blinks trying to clear her blurry vision, but it’s no use. She can just make out a face, a woman’s face. A quiet voice is speaking to her, but try as she might, she can’t comprehend the words. Can’t manage to get any of her own words up her throat and out her mouth. Her tongue feels like sandpaper, her body is a combination of numbness and excruciating pain. She knows trying to maintain consciousness is a losing battle.

Unable to hold the darkness at bay any longer, she lets her eyelids droop. 

She’s aware of strong arms wrapping around her, and lifting. Pain lances through her body, and she’s screaming but no noise is coming out. Sara is under no illusion that this is a rescue, she learned that lesson the hard way with Ivo. In the back of her mind, she’s aware that there’s nothing she can do. She can’t stand, much less make any kind of escape attempt. 

So she surrenders herself back to the darkness, a part of her hoping that she won’t emerge from it ever again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with another update! (much faster than I thought I would be)  
> I have the whole thing planned out in my head, it's just a matter of having time to write it out. I honestly have no idea how many chapters this will end up being, just as many as it takes to tell the story I want to. Also, the rating might possibly change, but don't hold me to that. Don't remember if I mentioned this in the notes on Chapter 1 but this is going to be a super fluffy story. They don't fall in love right away. Nyssa treats her just like any other prisoner, the feelings come later.  
> As usual, this chapter is unedited.

The first thing that Sara is aware of is the pounding in her head has subsided to a dull ache. 

She slowly blinks her eyes open to take stock of her current situation. 

As she glances around the room, Sara realizes that she’s in a cabin on….. another boat. She vows to herself if she ever makes it out of this nightmare, she’ll never get on another boat as long as she lives. 

The cabin is small and clean, the only things in it are the bed Sara is currently lying on, and a chair near the foot of the bed. 

She starts to slowly test of her weakened limbs, stretching out her arms and legs. Sara feels a twinge of pain in her right leg, and glances down to see that her previously shredded skin has been cleaned and bandaged. In fact, all of her has been cleaned. The dirt washed from her hair, dressed in clean loose fitting clothes. 

She cringes at the thought of someone bathing her while she was unconscious. Realizing that it’s the least of her problems, Sara shoves the thought aside. 

Shifting her arms back, and pressing against her palms, Sara struggles to sit up. Her arms tremble in protest, and the aching in her head increases slightly, but she manages to get upright. Shuffling back, she props herself up against the headboard, and releases a shaky breath. 

Her memories are fuzzy, but there was a woman’s face, and murmuring voices, and strong arms lifting her away from death’s clutches. 

Suddenly the cabin door opens and a tall woman with dark skin, and long hair braided back from her faces steps in. Her brown eyes meet Sara’s and she raises an eyebrow in surprise.

“You’re awake.”

It’s a statement, spoken in an accented voice, and Sara decides that a response isn’t necessary. Sara just continues to hold her gaze. The look in the woman’s eyes confirms what Sara had previously considered. These people may have saved her life, but whether or not that is a positive development remains to be seen. 

“How are you feeling?”

A question, direct, without care or concern what the answer was. Requiring an answer.

“Like I’ve been run over by a bus, but better than I was on that beach.”

Sara’s voice sounds gravelly to her own ears. Hoarse from lack of use.

The woman gives a sharp nod.

“You must be hungry. I’ll send Rakin in with food.”

The woman turns sharply on her heel to exit the cabin, clearly not expecting an answer. 

Part of Sara wants to start asking questions. Who are you? Where am I? Why did you bother saving me? What do you want with me? But she gets the sense that this woman wouldn’t acknowledge her questions, much less answer them. So Sara holds her tongue as she closes the door firmly behind her. 

Sara’s mind is racing, and she takes deep breaths trying to calm herself. They can’t do anything to her that she hasn’t already endured, she tells herself. She can endure this, whatever it is. 

Several minutes later a tall broad chested man enters the room with a bowl of something that smells amazing. Sara’s stomach grumbles. 

“Aisha said you were awake.”

Aisha. That must be the sharp eyed woman who had just spoken to her. That would make this man… 

“You’re Rakin?”

Something about him makes her feel like she can ask the question. His eyes are kinder, his voice softer.

“Yes.”

“You pulled me out of the water?”

“Yes.”  
His movements are graceful for someone of his size, as he steps towards her.

He settles the bowl on her lap.

“Soup. Don’t eat it too quickly unless you want it to make a swift reappearance.”

He settles into the chair and the foot of her bed, as Sara eyes the soup. She briefly considers that it may be poisoned, but then decides that saving her life just to poison her seems a little anticlimactic. Her stomach feels like it’s screaming at her, as she shakily picks up the spoon and forces herself to take it slow. 

She eats in silence for a couple minutes, and then glances up to see Rakin watching her. 

“Where am I?” she asks tentatively. 

“On a boat.” he says with a flicker of amusement in his eyes. 

Sara almost laughs at that. 

“Well yes, I can see that.” she responds dryly, and returns to her soup. 

Several moments of silence pass. 

“Why did you save me from that beach?”

His face stiffens slightly at that. 

“We have questions for you, and you were in no condition to answer them on the beach.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

Rakin just stares an her unflinching, not giving her an answer. After a silent pause, she realizes that he’s not going to give one. 

She finishes the soup in silence, and almost wants to cry, she’s still so hungry. 

Rakin stands and takes the bowl from her. 

“Let that sit on your stomach. I will return later.” 

Then he’s gone. 

Sara slouches back down on the bed. Her body could use more rest, and there’s nothing else for her to do anyways. She settles down and eventually falls into a fitful sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It continues like this for two more days. Rakin brings her food, answers a couple more questions without really giving her any information. A woman, who doesn’t speak to Sara, comes in and changes the bandages on her leg. She doesn’t see Aisha again, and she isn’t complaining about that. 

Sara wonders about these people who are feeding her, and treating her injuries. They all have this intense, focused energy, and they certainly aren’t wanting for weapons. Every time she sees Rakin, he has several visible knives on him, and a sword strapped across his back (what kind of crazy people carry swords?). Even the woman who has been changing her bandages carries knives on her. That on top of their weird outfits… they make Sara nervous. These are clearly no ordinary people. 

On the evening of the third day, her door opens, but it’s not Rakin as she’s come to expect. Aisha strides into the cabin, and she’s not alone. Two men, who Sara doesn’t recognize, stand just outside the door. 

“Get up.”

Sara flinches slightly at the harsh tone. She’s already stood up several times since waking up on the boat. Each time had been a difficult and painful, her body still recovering from near starvation and all of her various injuries. Sara knew that she couldn’t stand for more than a couple minutes, and certainly without something to support her. Sara would tell her this, but it’s clear that Aisha is taking her somewhere and it isn’t up for debate. 

Sara’s body groans in protest as she swings her legs over the side of the bed and struggles to her feet. She grits her teeth and attempts to take a step, but her legs buckle underneath her. Before she can crumple to the floor, strong hands grip her upper arms and steady her on her shaking legs. The two men, also dressed in similar dark outfits with their faces partially covered, have entered the room. 

Aisha turns on her heel and exits the cabin. The men guide Sara stumbling after her, still gripping her arms. 

They walk down hallways, deeper into the belly of the ship, which Sara can now see is a decent size. 

Aisha comes to a stop at a door, then she’s pushing it open and entering the room. The men holding her up pull Sara after her. 

Sara blinks, eyes adjusting to the brightness in the room. It’s much bigger than the cabin she’s been held in and there are several people already in the room. 

Her escorts guide her to the center of the room, and then their firm grips are gone as they step away. Without their support, Sara’s legs give out and she sinks to her knees. Sitting back on her heels, hunched over, palms braced on the cold metal floor. Sara hisses a breath out through her teeth at the pain the jarring movement has caused her still healing leg. 

Two other people are thrown to their knees on either side of her. She glances at them out of the corner of her eyes, and her curiosity turns to shock. Two men, two of Ivo’s men are on their knees beside her. She racks her brain trying to remember their names. Daniel and…and Joseph. She remembers their faces, Ivo’s grunts. Violent men.

The realization that she wasn’t the Amazo’s only survivor sinks in. This means... this means that Oliver might be-

Sara shoves the thought from her head. She can’t afford to think like that. Can’t afford to wonder and hope, when she needs to focus everything she has on surviving this. 

She finally glances up. Aisha has continued walking towards the front of the room, and is speaking to the person standing there in a language that Sara doesn’t recognize. The person that Aisha is talking to is a woman facing away from Sara. Long dark hair falling down her back, weapons strapped to her body, dressed in clothing that should almost be described as armor. 

Aisha finishes whatever she was saying and takes a step back. That’s when the woman turns to face them. 

Sara gasps quietly, and the air rushes out of her lungs. That face. That is face she’d seen. This is the woman that found her in the water. 

She’s strides towards them, halting a short distance away. Her dark eyes scan over them, and when her cold gaze meets Sara’s, Sara feels like the woman is staring straight into her soul. 

A pause, and then a in a low voice, the same accent that Sara recognizes from Rakin and Aisha.

“I am Nyssa. Daughter of R’as al Ghul, heir to The Demon. You will give me the information I require.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought! Hopefully I'll be back with another update soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, this one is kind of dark. :/ It's one of the scenes that has been stuck in my head prior to writing this story, so it was interesting to see how it translated.   
> As per usual, the chapter is unedited.

“You will give me the information I require. This will end with the same conclusion, your cooperation will determine the ease with which we get there.” 

Her meaning is clear. They’re going to die. They’re going to die, but first they’re going to answer her questions. How fast and accurately they answer her questions will decide how long this is going to take, and how painful this is going to be.

This realization takes any last little bit of fight out of Sara. She’s going to die here.

Part of her registers that Joseph is ranting at this woman. At Nyssa. His voice is raised and she knows that he’s telling Nyssa that they have powerful friends that will be looking for them, that he’s threatening this powerful, terrifying woman. She’s so lost in her own head that she isn’t really paying attention, but she’s picking up on lots of “fuck you”s, and “you’re going to regret this” 

The white noise in Sara’s head builds to a roar, and suddenly all she wants is to get this over with. She’s going to die regardless, so she just wants it to end as quickly as possible. 

“There’s no one coming.”

Everyone turns to look at Sara. She can feel the weight of their stares, and the utter silence as she’s cut off Joseph’s rant and he seems unsure what to do next.

“Shut up, you stupid bitch.” Daniel hisses. 

Sara doesn’t even spare him a glance. She looks up, looks Nyssa right in the eye. A sudden sense of calm washes over her, and her voice doesn’t shake as repeats herself, louder this time.

“There’s no one coming, no one looking. Unless you found anyone else on the island, we’re the only survivors of the wreck.” She pauses a takes a deep breath, “The ship, The Amazo, belonged to a scientist named Anthony Ivo. He wasn’t part of a larger organization, I doubt anyone even knew or cared about the location of the ship.” 

“She’s lying! There are people looking for us, and you’re going to be sorry when they find you.” 

Nyssa doesn’t break eye contact with Sara to acknowledge Joseph’s outburst. She just motions with her hand and one of the men steps forward. One sharp blow to the stomach later, Joseph is doubled over gasping, and the man steps back to rejoin the small crowd at the perimeter of the room. 

Nyssa raises an eyebrow at her, “What guarantee do I have that you speak the truth?”

“I was a prisoner on The Amazo, not part of their crew. They pulled me out of the ocean when the ship I was on went down. I have no allegiance to Ivo or his crew that would compel me to keep their secrets.”

Nyssa considers her for a minute. Sara tries to read her face, but it gives away nothing of what the other woman is thinking. 

“What was Anthony Ivo's purpose on Lian Yu?”

“He was looking for something, he called it a miracle cure. It was a drug that he believed would cure any illness and provide people with superhuman strength and abilities.”

“Did he find what he was searching for on the island?”

“Yes.”

“It was what he believed it to be?”

Sara hesitates.

“It was to some degree. It did cure illness and gave enhanced abilities but it also heightened aggression and rage. I saw someone take it, it saved his life but it turned him into a monster.” 

“Where is this miracle drug now?”

“It was all destroyed in a fight, before the ship exploded.” 

Nyssa tilts her head slightly as she continues looking at Sara. 

“You seem to be a somewhat intelligent woman, why would you not attempt to use this information to bargain for your life?”

Sara huffs out a breath, almost a dry laugh. 

“You don't seem like the kind of person who likes to be bargained with.” 

Sara could swear that she sees Nyssa's mouth twitch upwards at that, but it's gone almost as soon as it appears. 

Nyssa run her eyes over all of them, still kneeling on the ground, and nods as if she’s satisfied with her answers and now knows what she wanted to. 

Sara knows this is it. Her throat closes up a little, but she's much calmer than she thought she would be. She's afraid but she's also so tired. Oh god, she hopes it's fast.

Nyssa turns and addresses her companions in what Sara assumes in their native language. Three men break away from the group and approach, one coming to stand behind each of them. 

Sara hears metal sliding against metal, then there are fingers gripping her hair, tipping her head back. She feels the blade of a knife pressing into her throat, and tears prick at the corners of her eyes. 

She can hear Daniel and Joseph trying to fight the men holding them in the same position, but their struggle is useless. 

Her eyes lock onto Nyssa's and she holds her gaze. The other woman's face gives away nothing, unreadable as ever. When Sara can't take it anymore, she screws her eyes shut and waits. 

Sara’s breaths burn in lungs and she waits, wondering which breath is going to be her last. 

There’s a short command from Nyssa, and this is it. Sara’s body shakes as she braces herself for the end. 

The sickening sound of blades against flesh, the choking, dull thuds as bodies hit the floor and then silence as the blood drains out onto the floor. 

It takes Sara a few seconds to realize that she’s still alive. It takes even longer for her to realize that she’s going to stay that way.

The blade moves away from her neck and the hand in her hair is gone. Sara slumps forward, her breath tearing in and out of her lungs, pulse pounding in her head. She can feel blood, Daniel and Joseph’s blood, seeping into the knees of her pants and she fights a gag. When she finally opens her eyes, the room seems to spin and there’s bright pops of color along her vision. 

As her adrenaline comes down, Sara’s vision clears and focuses. She lifts her head and her eyes settle on Nyssa. Sara gapes at her, completely lost for words. She finally manages to sputter something out.

“Y-you’re… you’re not going to kill me?”

She’s still gaping at her as Nyssa smirks slightly. 

“Not today.”

Then Nyssa is turning away, clearly having decided that this, whatever this is, is over. 

It’s all whirlwind after that. As the people in the room start to disperse, Sara is vaguely aware of hands helping her to her feet, and guiding her back to her cabin. They deposit her on the bed and then they’re gone, the door closing behind them. 

When she’s finally alone in the dark, it all hits her. The terror of brushing so closely with death threatens to overwhelm her as she collapses on the bed and cries. The sobs shake her body until her body can’t take it anymore, and then they guide her into oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, okay. That's that. Sorry that these chapters are short! I don't have a lot of time to write, and I find that it makes it easier for me when I sit down and write a chapter all in one go.   
> Let me know what you think so far!

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so that's that (hides under couch)  
> If people like this, then I'll continue it (real life adult responsibilities pending)  
> Please be gentle with your criticism. Again, this is the first thing I've written in a long while, so I'm a little nervous about it.   
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
